The Dreamlike Progeny Revelation
by platypus-quacks-too
Summary: Amy has a further reason to lure Sheldon into babysitting Michael and Halley, and an unexpected source reveals it to Sheldon.


Amy closes her eyes and tries to put herself to rest. She's a bit envious of Sheldon, who fell asleep so quickly after their goodnight. She assumes physics is not as good as her worries to keep someone awake. There is so much going on in her mind right now to even hope to sleep anytime soon.

Her hand naturally goes to rest on her belly as she relives the past day. She loved to see Sheldon getting more comfortable around the younger Wolowitz just as she was pleased with the ingenious way she had found to bring him there. On the other hand, her plan had worked only part way through: it didn't give her the chance to tell her husband about their own progeny currently growing inside her.

Sure, he really did have fun with the little ones today. She almost burst Into tears watching Sheldon rocking Michael to sleep, or melting in a smile because the baby had taken his finger. And while that book was only meant to be a way to reach her goal, she has to admit it has a few very interesting experiments. As a neuroscientist, observing and testing the wonder of the human development was absolutely fascinating, and she had been the first to suggest to Sheldon how their offspring should have the potential to be even so remarkable.

Now everything is different. Only a few inches below her hand there is a baby. Their child. Will she probably think to carry out some test or closely report all of its progresses growing up? Very likely so. But now she mostly sees its bright eyes and tiny hands, and all she can think of is to keep it safe from the world.

She knows Sheldon is going to love their kid immensely. She also knows how her husband works. He had never been comfortable around little humans, so it felt natural to try to have him relating with babies more gradually than hitting him right away with the news of the upcoming parenthood. What better occasion then spending some time with their friends' little bundles of joy? Sheldon can get used to them first, and maybe stop considering toddlers and infants merely as test subjects that cry and poop.

So far so good, except of course for the fact he still insists about multiplying like rabbits. She squeezes her belly slightly as a funny thought popped into her mind. What if there are actually twins down there? Or maybe triplets? Having one baby is scary and exciting enough. Three? It is way more than she thinks she can handle.

Sheldon mutters something in his sleep. "Professor Einstein, you are forgetting your coat…!" He adds then.

Amy shakes her head before looking down, "_Four_ of you? It sounds fun…!"

She turns toward Sheldon and smiles. "I probably better try to get some sleep now," she says again to her baby, "We will think of something else tomorrow."

She moves closer to him and snuggles into him, her face buried in the crook of his neck. The smell of baby powder is already soothing her as she pulls him closer. He seems to be sleeping sound; nevertheless, Amy feels his hands moving on hers and his legs entwining with her own. In no time she slips into sleep, feeling safely enclosed with her little growing family.

* * *

Einstein left a while ago, so now Sheldon is wandering around not sure on what to do, or where he is. He has been walking down a long corridor for what it felt a lifetime, until he finally finds something worth mentioning: a pink door with a tiny cartel saying 'Subject #1'. More intriguing, someone drew a line over the writing.

He decides to enter the room, and it gets… odder. A toddler is sitting right in the middle of it. She looks busy with a bunch of building blocks.

"Hi Daddy," the baby girl greets him.

"_Daddy_?"

She doesn't seem to be bothered by his father's puzzled tone. "I am your child, Marie," she informs him, "Don't you recognize me?"

Sheldon tentatively shakes his head. "I have mama's eyes, the Cooper's hair?" She tries, "I am named after your favorite female scientist but you tell grandma it's after her?"

Sheldon takes a moment to better observe the little girl. Amy's green eyes sparkle over an angelic face framed by chestnut curls. He doesn't know many toddlers except of the Wolowitz ones, but definitely he can say she is a very pretty little girl.

He moves closer and it suddenly occurs to him she shouldn't be talking the way she does.

"How old are you?" He asks abruptly, "You shouldn't be talking this well already."

She switches the two blocks she was focusing on over the last minutes before answering, "I am two, and I can properly talk because I am super smart, obviously."

Sheldon can't hold a satisfied grin. Too bad Marie contradicts him already, "To be honest, I can talk because this is a dream, and I am just an expression of your subconscious. You didn't believe I was _that_ smart, did you?"

"Don't you get sassy with me, little lady," he scolds her, "I am your father after all. Or the conscious to your subconscious, you name it."

"I get the sass from mama. You like that in her."

Sheldon sits with Marie. What better proof it is a dream than the fact he willingly sits on the floor? "I do, but we don't tell her," he then admits. She smiles in return, and Sheldon thinks that's another thing she got from Amy.

They remain silent for a little while. Marie continues to handle her blocks while Sheldon observes her mesmerized.

"So, haven't you figured out it yet?" She finally asks once she has done.

"That you have been writing our super-asymmetry equations with those? Of course I have."

"I don't mean this. It doesn't even take this much imagination to figure it out," she replies, "I meant something else. Look at that," she adds, pointing somewhere behind Sheldon. He turns and looks in that direction: a calendar?

_November 7, 2021._

"It's almost three year in the future," Sheldon observes, "I got it! We are inside a virtual reality simulator! Can I get to the commands?"

Marie sighs. "To be exact, we are two years and eight months from your present, and no, this is not a virtual simulation. C'mon daddy, it is so obvious! Are you sure you are a genius?" She mocks him.

Sheldon is too disappointed to be bothered by the snarky remark. "What else can it be? I can't think of anything better."

Marie insists, "For instance, have you noticed anything weird with mom lately? Like stumbling upon a book about experimenting on babies."

"I realized she did want me to find the book," Sheldon confesses, "But I know it was only because she didn't want to admit she wanted to experiment on Halley and Michael. Sometimes people tell us it isn't really moral to conduct trials on our friends. I know, they are crazy," he adds once he sees Marie is shaking her head again.

"It wasn't because of this. Well, it wasn't _only_ because of this," Marie concedes. "Think harder: have you noticed mom felt sick almost every morning in the last couple of weeks? Any emotional lability?"

"Oh, what a nice word, _lability_. You don't hear it enough."

She ignores the unrequested parenthesis and continues, "And have you noticed she went missing for most of yesterday…? _Do you remember what happened six weeks ago?_"

Marie has stressed the last question weirdly. Well, as weird as it can possibly sound for a toddler who is talking like an adult. Trying to focus on her question, Sheldon takes a moment to remember. He quickly turns pale when he realizes what she is hinting at.

"You and mom made love, and you were so into the role of a reckless Gryffindor that-"

"Don't say it!" Sheldon interrupts her, "I won't discuss such things with… well, with you."

"Remember I am not really your daughter, but only your subconscious," she answers back, "Don't be shy."

"I am not shy. It's just-" It is a bigger deal than discussing coitus with a self projection of himself in the form of his future daughter. What she is implying… No, it can't be. Even in the robe of a reckless wizard, he knows he has been careful, especially when Amy does her best to bewitch him.

But even admitting he somehow lacked on precautions, has what they are suspecting really happened? Sure, Amy lately complained of some morning sickness and ate a whole bowl of chocolate ice cream in one lump. Yes, she did disappear for whole day and behaved weirdly even since she got back home. But what is weird anyway? She is weird enough to have married him.

"So, you got it?" Marie urges him.

Sheldon takes a deep breath and still hesitates before being able to say that. "Are you saying you- Amy is pregnant? With you?"

Marie casually shrugs. "You are saying that," she says. Sheldon remained speechless.

"I am hungry," she adds then, "You should feed me," she declares standing up and reaching out to Sheldon.

"Feed?"

"You cut some watermelon for me and then let an airplane fly in my mouth. I may be a product of your mind, but I still need to be fed like any other toddler."

Marie's big eyes stare at him. She may be talking like a 40 year old, but those puppy eyes are those of a child. _His_ child. Now everything he can think of is landing watermelon cubes into her mouth.

He stands and takes the hand of his little girl. Lord, she is so tiny next to him. He realizes she is looking up at him.

"I can't wait to meet you, dad."

* * *

It feels bittersweet waking up. He hates to be taken away so abruptly from his girl- um, that marvelous product of his subconscious. On the other hand, he has found himself wrapped in Amy's arms, who breathes peacefully on his neck and holds him tight in her sleep.

Just as he closes his eyes back to enjoy his wife's embrace, Marie's words echo in his mind. What if she is right? All those things he noticed himself but didn't pay attention to before...

Carefully, he turns around to face her and plants a kiss on her lips.

"Mmm, I like this," she mutters with a grin, "You should wake me up this way more often. How's that?"

"I will. I- I had a dream," Sheldon starts saying, even if he realizes that saying out loud what he is thinking is so scary.

"Marie appeared in my dreams. She was writing the fundamental equations of super-asymmetry with building blocks and made me think about the book we found in the library, and your morning sickness, and that whole bowl of ice-cream you had the other day…"

Amy is pretty sure her heart stopped for a short while. Did he find out…? Also, why Marie Curie is making her husband realize she is pregnant?

"Marie? You mean Marie Curie?" It's all she can ask back.

"No. I mean, I saw her earlier with Einstein-" he interrupts as soon as Amy raises her eyebrows, "Anyway, it wasn't her. It was our daughter."

The very way her eyes widen… oh boy, Marie is right. "Amy… she implied a thing. She suggested that last month, when we made love-"

"She told you the truth." She doesn't even know how, but the words just flow out of her. "She- he, whatever… it's here already."

Good thing he is lying already or he would have been falling down like a sack of potatoes in no time. Even if a part of him knew it before, her explicit admission is a lot to deal with.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He eventually manages to say.

She can't help but feeling a little guilty because she hid her pregnancy for two whole days. She kisses him before apologising, "I- I am sorry. It's just… you always say how sure you are we will have super-smart children, and today you reiterated the idea we will be able to follow their growth on a scientific point of view, and making experiments with them…"

"Maybe they will be super-smart," she continues, "And the experiments are fun and I can't wait to redo a couple of the ones we tried today. But before telling you… I needed to be sure you will want to hold our baby in your arms, or feed it, or change the diaper, and love it no matter what."

Maybe he wasn't ready for all of these just the same. Maybe he will never be. Or maybe she was wrong the whole time and he just can't wait to sing Soft Kitty to the little thing currently living in her belly.

"I dreamed she asked me for watermelon and that she wanted me to play the little airplane to land it. Once she asked me- That's all I wanted to do then." Sheldon thinks he wants to caress her belly but eventually takes her hand and gently squeezes it, "She also took my hand and I think my heart almost exploded. I didn't care about her intelligence or any trial I could even try with her. I only wanted to hold her and eat watermelon together."

This is enough for Amy to dispel all her doubts. Oh, silly Amy. If marrying Sheldon ever taught her something, it is was how full of love her husband is. Today is no exception. He will be a great father, won't he? Even if there will be a cognitive test from time to time.

He holds Amy closer and kisses her forehead. "Do you think there's a chance for twins?" He asks hopefully.

Amy sighs. Here he is again…! Of course, she won't admit to him she had the same thought.

"We won't have twins because you need a control group," Amy jokingly scolds him.

"I wasn't think of that...Well, that's a positive side effect," he confirms, "But I mostly want to have many little versions of us… of you."

"Very good save," Amy concedes, and Sheldon smiles back proudly.


End file.
